Month: May 2022

May 18 Recap

By Marc Brafman

Mother nature was not shining down on us last night but hey we got the games in. 

 

On field one it was a battle of undefeated teams. Something had to give, and Team Lefton pulled out a close one. Jimmy leads off.

 

Team Lefton won 6-5 in a sloppy, muddy mess of a game. The game was played remarkably well on defense by both teams despite the poor conditions. Team Lefton got out to a 5-0 lead which would have been more than enough if not for two remarkable plays by Mark Franklin, of all people, in right field. He saved 3-4 runs with great catches. Griff “Lady Buckeye” Harris led the offense with a big 3-run homer that proved to be the difference in the game. 

 

On field 2 it was Team Weisser vs. Team Kamrass

A short and sweet update from the winning team Capt. Mark:

We won 16-5 in six innings. Good hitting by everyone, especially Wes Wolf, though team Kamrass only had nine players. Field was total slop. Very good defense on my team all around.

 

On Field 3 it was Team Grefer vs. Team Roger

Kyle bats first for the winners:

We beat Team Rosenthal 12-11 in a back-and-forth game. After the 5th inning we had a one run lead, and they scored 4 in the top of 6. In the bottom of 6 our bats woke up in a huge 7 run inning to go up 11-7, but they rallied in the top off 7 to tie the game up. In the bottom of 7 they walked Taylor Police to get to me, and with the bases loaded and the outfield in, I hit one to right field to win the game.

 

Mike Gray pitched admirably in a swamp around the pitcher’s mound. Defensively Ben Margolis had a nice game behind the plate, Taylor Police made all the plays at shortstop, and I threw out runners at both first and home. Offensively everyone contributed in the key 6th inning, but notable contributors were AJ Goldhoff with line drives all over the field, Michael Margolis with a huge hit to spark a rally, Mike Gray with some big hits, sub Noah Pelberg, and myself.

 

And Roger for his squad:

Questionable strategy might have sunk the ship this time………

 

 

KUDOS……

 

 

*RAFI GOLDFARB…….hit the “you know what” out of the ball and played a flawless SS…..

 

*DAVID SOLOMON…..continues to be great behind the plate and made a couple of hustle plays on the bases….

 

*BRIAN GOLDBERG…..back after a week off, made a great catch at 2B and had a couple of key hits……

 

*KEITH KOMBRINCK…..pitched a great five innings and then things went south, but kept us in the game…….

 

Finally, it sounds like the real action took place on field 4:

Team Stu vs. Team Z

 

Stu for the winners: 

Controversy always seems to find Team Solomon as the ump called our game after 5 innings. To be fair the ump announced the 5th would be the last inning before the inning started. Team Solomon Ended up winning 8-5.

 

Big shout out to Corey “Chuck” Norris for pitching a fantastic game last night. I’ll bring a bucket of water to recreate the conditions. It was a great day for the bottom half of our order. Mr. Kroger, Mark “the Bruiser” Wolfe and Evan “The Beard” Gildenblatt both had two hits. Gregg “Triple G” Harris had a huge hit in the 3rd to drive in two and keep the game out of reach. The game was capped off by several nice sliding plays by Adam “The Bad Guy” Cronstein. 

 

“We played a complete game through adverse conditions. It was a great Team Win.” -Evan Gildenblatt

 

“I feel like I have a chip on my shoulder for being picked as a 5 and I am going to let the whole league know it” Dr. Jeff Weisbrot DDS

 

League notes:

As we move into the summer with high school graduations, I can’t recommend enough going to the Sweet Butter Bakery web site for all of your Jewish baked good needs

 

For all you single guys in the league I was reading a story about a kickball league in Chicago that kicked a woman out who created a team using nothing but Tinder. I thought this was a good idea for you single guys so get on tinder and get a team together.

 

Jewish night at the Reds game is June 7th. Help support the community and go check out the Reds vs. Arizona D-Backs.

 

Nothing better on Facebook than seeing prom/graduation pictures. Congrats to Corey “Chuck” Norris, “The Special One,” Mike Rothstein and Eric “Jeter” Goldstein who all have daughters graduating this year. (If I missed anyone, congrats!)

 

Speaking of Facebook Danny Gilbert posted pictures of himself looking at pictures of rocks while on vacation. That is how he labeled it. I can’t wait to hear all about that trip 

 

There is a Young Jewish night at either the J or at the golf club. See Rick Lefton if you are A) young and B) want to go

 

Happy birthday to Jason Esterkamp I don’t know how old he is, but he sure looks good.  Also, happy birthday to former commish, Rick Tenenholtz.

 

It is well established that Griff Harris has no interest in following the 4th or 5th best football team in college football (OSU) but he is still very much in love their National Championship women’s hockey team. Not to be outdone, our own Brad Gallop is rumored to be dating the entire Wisconsin women’s volleyball team. 

 

Next week, after the games please come out to the Silver Spring House to enjoy some food and league fun thanks to league title sponsor Gig Franklin. We will head over to the Spring House after the games. Thank you in advance, Gig!

 

In this week in Jason Faust stories:

 

Once again when he was on my team a few years ago. After getting hit around a little one inning with numerous bombs hit over the outfielders’ heads and with a runner on 3^rd, Faust turned around and in the middle of the inning, fired a ball to me out in LF. Not when there was a timeout or when it was a dead ball, but as if he was trying to pick off a runner from left field. The runner jogged home and I’m pretty sure we lost the game. Even more than when I got kicked out of the game, that was as mad as I have ever been on the field. After the final out of the inning I sprinted in and said what the heck are you doing. He said, “there were so many balls hit over your head I wanted to make sure you could catch an easy one.”  I had to somewhat laugh (somewhat), but that was Faust.

 

Let’s hope for better weather next week.

 

 May 11 Recap

By Marc Brafman

What a great night for softball last night. The temperature was rising right along with Mike Rothstein’s blood pressure. Let’s get right to the action.

On field one we had Team Rosenthal vs. Team Solomon

Roger leads off: 

Not much good to say about our game this evening…probably our worst game of the year…plus HOWARD SCHWARTZ got hit by a batted ball in the first at bat of the game…he was not his normal self…here’s to hoping he gets well quickly…

QUOTES……

ROGER ROSENTHAL…..

“Hats off to Stu and his team. They can hit the ball. Their lineup is stacked with left handed bats, but the entire team seemed to get in on the act.”

“We didn’t play a good game and I think part of it was the fact that our veteran pitcher, HOWARD SCHWARTZ, who will go down in the records as the best pitcher in JCC Softball history, wasn’t himself after being hit by a batted ball in the first at bat (Dan Green) of the game.”

“We did make a nice comeback after falling behind by four runs in the opening frame, but we just seemed to never be able to get over the hump.”

“We’re off to a bad start, but I really think if we just stay within ourselves, we’ll be ok. It’s frustrating, but we just have to play through it and not give up.”

And Stu for the winners:

Hello and Welcome to another addition of Team Solomon Game Recap’s:

We pick it up in the 2nd inning. After two quick outs, Dan Green and Adam Cronstein both hit singles with Tyler Stansbury up to bat. Tyler roped a ball oppo to left field clearing the bases on what could have been a stalled inning. Team Solomon continued to play add-on throughout the rest of the game scoring 17 runs. Big games by Dan Green going 4-5 and Adam “The Bad Guy” Cronstein going 5-5.

Let’s talk D:

We start in the bottom of 1. After an error by the SS, Mr. Kroger Himself, Mark “the Bruiser” Wolfe gunned out James “Lynn” Swan trying to steal 2nd. It was reported that Mark gave James the Dikembe Mutombo finger wag after he gunned him out. Let’s move to bottom 4 with runners on 1st and 2nd and two outs…Dan Green made a great diving snag at 2B for the final out of the inning. Later, in the bottom of the 6th up 10 runs, Stuart “El Capitan” Solomon made a nice sliding catch to end the game. 

ROY Watch: Ryan “the One-Man Gang” Marcus went 3-4 and played a solid 3B. What is not so solid is his base running. He got picked off again after overrunning 2B. The upper management will be bringing in Willie Mays Hayes as a special base running instructor for the remainder of the season. 

On field two, Team Fogel played Team Grefer:

 

A dog fight from start to finish, Team Fogel got the better of Team Grefer by a final score of 16-11. Down 4-1 early, Team Fogel fought back to tie the game but only to go down again 8-4. Timely hitting and baserunning tied the game back up at 8 in the fourth. The Men in Navy Blue were down again before taking advantage of a few costly errors in the bottom of the sixth and put up a crooked number to take a commanding lead into the seventh inning which they would hold on to.

When asked about the performance from the team, Jeremy had this to say… “Grit, man. This team is all about it. Blow outs are fun, but nothing is more satisfying than battling from behind to become victorious. Top to bottom, catcher to right field, this team exhibits traits of a winning team and battles each and every inning. It makes my job easier when I know I have eleven guys on my team that have my back.”

 

Stat of the game:

 

Turning back the clock, Joel “Sparky” Fogel went 5/5 out of the leadoff spot and played a stellar shortstop. Someone may need to test this man as he is playing like its 2002. it is also reported that there are more fans coming for Team Fogel than going to see the Reds. “Where else are you going to go?”

On Field three we had Team Kamrass vs. Team Lefton

Micah reports first:

Team Kamrass lost to Team Lefton 8-2. Jimmy pitched a hell of a game. Team Kamrass played great defense, but couldn’t get the bats going. The highlight of the night was Eric Goldstein one-hopping a foul ball straight into the snack shack window. (there is some dispute to this as it might have been Riley “The Big Man” Able. 

We will get back to our winning ways next week. 

Jimmy chimes in for the winners:

Last night’s game featured a battle of the unbeatens. Team Lefton outlasted team Kamrass by putting up five runs in the sixth inning off Eppy Eppstein… The game was highlighted by impressive defensive plays, including two diving catches by right centerfielder Dee Harris. Camden Kirzner continues to lead this team both offensively and defensively…he’s an early candidate for MVP playing a fantastic SS and batting leadoff where he has been retired only one time all season!  

Finally, out on Field 4 it was Team Suspended vs. Team Weisser

Team Suspended despite playing with 2 subs beat Team Weisser 13-7. “It goes to show how little my team needs me, Capt. Brafman said post game. Not only did they not miss me on the field but I’m glad they didn’t listen to my strategy on the field.”  Hitting stars for Team Brafman were many. Anton as usual led the way as did Joel “Hallelujah” Buckley, and Fink. The big bat of the night came from “The Mayor” Todd Wasserman who legged out two infield singles and scored from first on a bomb from sub Matt “No I’m not related to Wes” Miller, who crushed a triple into RC. 

On defense “Handsome” Sam Castellini, Dr. Bob Pelberg (who was on call all game) and still made the plays and Alex Krause helped keep Team Weisser off the board. A special thank you to B-Rod for playing a great LF and getting a couple of clutch hits. For Team Weisser, Brad Wagner smoked a triple, and the Wolf Brothers did their normal things at the plate. 

Team Brafman hopes to continue winning in two weeks and Capt. Brafman hopes to keep his one game streak alive of not getting ejected.

League notes:

Congrats goes out to Eric “The Mouth of the Midwest” Gruen’s daughter, Rosie who took home a trophy in her dance competition last week. As she might be my future daughter in law  one day I’m glad she will be able to provide for Jacob. 

It was good to see David “the ball magnet” Snyder out at the field last night. While he does have a couple of broken bones in his cheek he hopefully will be back on the field in a couple of weeks. 

The Who are coming to town for the first time in almost 43 years on Sunday. I asked Mark Weisser if he was going and he told me that not only was he at the concert in 1979 when all the fans died but he himself was in the crush of people. Such a sad story and we are all glad that Mark wasn’t hurt that tragic night. For those of you going to the concert text me and we can meet up during Behind Blue Eyes.

Cam “Mr. Bearcat” Kirzner not only is killing it on the field, but he was recently voted to lead the Rally Cats at UC. Congrats!!

Jewish Night is coming up at the Reds game. I believe the date is June 7th vs. the Hated Arizona Diamondbacks. It’s a fun night at the game and hey, maybe the Reds won’t give up 6 runs in the 9th.

Rick “The Commish” Tenenholtz was down at the Derby last weekend. Since he wasn’t driving up in a Porsche it’s a safe bet he didn’t bet his life savings on Rich Strike to win. (They call the KY Derby the most exciting two minutes in sports and I can say that last week lived up to that)

While I can’t confirm it, even though I was there, if you need an expert Hora dancer, Ryan “Hi Ho” Silverman is your guy. I didn’t know he could move like the bottle dancers in Fiddler on the Roof until I saw him out on the dance floor.

As mentioned above someone on Team Kamrass hit a foul ball that went into the concession stand on one bounce. Rick Lefton said it would have been the craziest thing he saw on the field all night if he hadn’t witnessed Mike “the Special one” Rothstein lose his mind over Alan “Sauce” Lessure trying to hit the ball. 

Finally, this week’s Ron Rose story comes to us from “Stormin” Norm Frankel

I had the pleasure of playing with Ron for many years as part of the Howard Schwartz dynasty, and without question Ron was a great teammate for many reasons. While a fierce competitor, win or lose Ron was always encouraging the team to have fun and just play hard. Needless to say, Ron was an amazing inspiration as he demonstrated that age is just a number. Even on the hottest summer nights, when just standing in the field was uncomfortable, Ron would continue to play catcher which was a challenge for a person half his age.

 

One of my fondest memories occurred when Ron had one of his best hits of the season and probably his career, a deep line drive in left center field that caught everyone by surprise. Ron, who was never that speedy, motored to first base as best he could but then for some inexplicable reason headed to second. Needless to say, a speedier player would have been safe at third, but Ron was out by a country mile.

 

When Ron returned to the bench, I could not resist and asked him why he continued onto second. Ron looked at me and, in all sincerity, said, “Well, the first base coach didn’t tell me to stop.” I couldn’t help but laugh and thought, “Well, the man is right.” To this day, whenever I think of that moment a smile comes to my face.

 

I will greatly miss Ron’s special greeting when he saw me, S and N for Stormin’ Norman. No one has ever called me S and N except Ron and this year’s softball season won’t be the same without that greeting and without Ron.

See everyone next week

 

May 4 Recap

By Marc Brafman

 

With all of the rain we’ve had the last two days many of us thought that the fields would look like the Dagobah system. But lucky for us with some timely winds blowing in from Hoth we were able to dry them off well enough. (Nice work Triple Creek)

 

Normally I start with the fields in order, but I know most of you want to know what happened on field 2 so we’ll start there. Before we get into the game let’s all wish David “BP” Snyder a quick recovery from getting hit in the face by a throw last night. “My head feels like I was hit with the Emperor lightning bolts, but just like Luke I should be able to rebound in a few weeks.” All kidding aside, get well soon buddy.

 

Now onto the action. On Field 2 it was Team Solomon vs. Team Brafman. (Team Solomon won I believe 12-11) but since I was in the parking lot for the end of the game, I’m not sure. Team Solomon led by their big lefty lineup of Adam Cronstein, Tyler “Bryce Harper” Stansbury and rookie Ryan “The One-Man Gang” Marcus jumped out to a quick lead. Corey Norris kept Team Brafman in check most of the night with his off-speed pitches. But things changed in the bottom of the 6th when Team Brafman led by JZ, Fink “Handsome” Sam Castellini, Marc Brafman and Sam “The Hitman” Hecht all had hits to tie the score. Which brings us, friends, into the top of the 7th. After a leadoff walk and two outs, things took a strange turn for Team Brafman. With a runner on second base, Cronstein grounded a single to right center. JZ came up throwing and unfortunately hit Snyder in the side of the head which resulted in one run scoring and Adam getting all the way to second base. After an infield single, an error and another run, and a walk the fun really started. Marcus tried to steal second (I think) and was easily thrown out. Not only did he not make it to the base, he was also out by a mile. Unfortunately, the ump didn’t see it that way and after a short argument where I told him the call was horrible and then repeated it to my team I got thrown out of the game. “I was just trying to protect my team,” Brafman said post-game. “After David got hurt, we only had 10 guys and I didn’t want Fink or anyone else to get thrown out. My job is to protect my guys. Looking back now I should have used my Jedi training and relaxed a little. My only regret is that I didn’t go full Billy Martin and kick dirt on the plate.  When the dust settled, Team Brafman was down by 3. In the bottom of the 7th a rally was killed by smart management by Cronstein, who was filling in for Stu, who is sick. With the tying run on 1st and two outs they walked two guys to get to my spot in the order. Since I was banished to the Cloud City, my spot in the order was the last out of the game. Team Brafman called it bush league. Adam said post game, “I think it was smart softball.” Kudos to Fink for striking out 5 and for Adam C for making 3-4 nice plays in LC. Lost in this weird game was maybe the worst slide of all time by Marcus as he tried to stretch a double into a triple. 

Team Brafman looks to rebound next week vs. Team Weisser and Team Solomon takes on Team Rosenthal.

 

Now onto regular action. On field 1 it was Team Z vs. Team Grefer: 

We beat team Zawatsky 9-6 behind another strong pitching performance by Mike Gray.  With Mark Tenenholtz subbing for shortstop, Taylor Police, we tried an odd defensive alignment with 3 outfielders and 5 infielders that somehow worked out. “We felt this was the best way to beat the Empire and get the resistance in our best way possible.” After a rough first inning where we gave up 4 runs on some defensive miscues, we showed great resolve to come back and get the win. AJ Goldhoff had a great game behind the plate and hit line drives all over the field. Chris Kunkel filled in admirably at shortstop and hit some lasers up the middle. Our two second baseman, Yair Richler and Michael Margolis, each made some nice catches and putouts. Josh Rosen had a nice game running down balls in center field and using his speed on the basepaths to turn singles into doubles. Dan Grefer also had a solid game at the plate hitting a triple to left field.

 

Over on Field 3 it was Team Fogel vs. Team Rosenthal 

Roger leads off: 

Not much to write about this week…..TEAM FOGEL 7    TEAM ROSENTHAL 3

 

HOWARD SCHWARTZ pitched another great game and the defense for the most part was pretty good, however the hits were almost non-existent…..

 

 

QUOTES FROM TEAM ROSENTHAL…..

 

 

ROGER ROSENTHAL…

 

“My tip of the cap to Jeremy and his team. They played flawless defense and Jamie pitched a great game with no walks. They came up with some key hits.”

 

 

“I had no problem with our pitching and defense for the most part, but our hitting wasn’t too good today. I expect it to come around at some point. The earlier the better.”

 

“I think the guys might be trying too hard and trying to do too much. We need to just go out there and play as a team and not give up, which we haven’t done yet and I don’t expect it to happen. It’s a long season”

 

“I might get to the point of drawing names out of a hat to get a batting order, but I still have confidence that the bats will be coming.”

 

“In summary, I look for inspiration from the Xavier men’s basketball team, and Princess Leia, who led the rebellion not once but twice.  If XU and the rebellion can get over the hump, so can we. The problem we might have is we have too many UC and Ohio State guys on this team.”

 

and Jeremy chimes in for the winners:

 

On a chilly Wednesday night in May, Team Fogel took care of business with minimal excitement. A final score of 7-3 sounds just about as invigorating as the game itself. Jumping out to an early lead, the Men in Navy Blue never looked back. Great defense along with timely hitting, but not too much hitting, resulted in what felt like a 45-minute game. Rob Manfred would have been really proud of the pace of play exhibited on field three. The offense was brought to life by Mark Franklin when he hit a ball to the wall after a measly offensive performance was shown through the first three innings.

 

Stat of the game:

 

Scott Friend continues to tear the cover off the softball. The dugout radar gun (also known as the eyes of Joel Fogel) which tracks exit velocity claims that Scott is leading the league by a wide margin. “We haven’t seen anything this fast and hard since Han Solo ran made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs,” Fogel said post game.

 

Finally on field 4 it was Team Lefton vs. Team Weisser:

 

Fun game tonight Jimmy said post game. Weisser scored 4 in the top of the 1st and we came back with 5 in the bottom half to take the lead. By the end of the 3rd it was 10-6 Lefton. This was the score until the 7th. Weisser got a few on the bases and scratched out a run but that was as close as it came. The final score was 10-7. The Game ended when Pete “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” Soltesz struck out looking which caught the black. “I like to challenge Pete,” Jimmy said post game. “Similar to how I battle the mighty Rancor each night at home I took the fight right to him.” 

 

League notes:

 

Roger starts off:

 

Who in the league knows who Connor McDavid and Austin Matthews are?…….one for sure is GRIFF HARRIS, the biggest Matthews fan in Ohio…..he’s NO WAYNE GRETZKY!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

*Don’t ever sell anything to MARC BRAFMAN…..it might be awhile until you get paid off and when you do, it might be a buck or two short….LOL.  All kidding aside, he and DEE HARRIS might not be my best customers, but they’re two of my favorite ones!

 

 

*BOBBY “THE MOUTH OF OHIO” CARTER was at the regular dining establishment this evening……I told him that his voice is sorely missed in the league…..He ran his mouth even more than I do and that’s saying a lot.

 

 

*Finally, rumor has it that MIKE and LINDA ROTHSTEIN are looking for a new place to live and were thinking about the condos where I live.  LINDA wanted to, but MIKE says this, “Really? You think I want to live near Roger and his bobbleheads? NO way in hell.”

 

Congrats to Joel Buckley and his wife on being married three years.

Even more amazing Roger and his wife have been together for 30 years. I’m not sure what’s more amazing…the fact my wife has stayed with me that long or that people thought that Jake Lloyd could act. (he was young Anakin in The Phantom Menace, for those keeping score)

 

Next time you need a shirt design, go to Scott “Why can’t we be” Friend(s), whose son continues to be a great artist. 

 

I caught up with B-Rod last weekend. He wants everyone to know he is doing well, just switched jobs and still looks good. He did say one of the reasons he didn’t play is that he didn’t want to become one of the “old guys” that continued to play but didn’t get any better. I told him if we all thought that way no one would be playing right now over the age of 35.

 

Let’s all hope one of our favorite players, Jerry “Doc” Kirzner recovers quickly from a sore knee. We need Jerry back out there. 

 

This Saturday night, weather permitting, head to the JCC to watch the fireworks that are shot off from across the street. I went last year, and they are great.

 

Also, if you need something to do head down to Union Terminal and check out 200 years of Jewish history in Cincinnati. I hope there are some shots of us in there from over the years.

 

I believe I’ve mentioned this before but for some reason Jimmy Lefton doesn’t believe Clayton Kershaw is a Hall of Fame Pitcher. I’m not sure what he has been watching all these years.

 

Does anyone else find it odd that the other day WLW started a weather update saying there were tornado watches happening in Oklahoma? Why do we need to know that?

 

If you want to watch a good but not great movie on HBO, check out the Survivor. It’s about Harry Haft, a Holocaust survivor, and his incredible journey of survival. My advice is if you watch it, don’t watch it before bed like I did.

 

The Reds stink!

 

And last but not least, here is another Jason Faust story:

 

When he was on my team, he was very serious about his pitching, but not so much from the plate. As such I moved him down to 12th in the order one game. Let’s just say he didn’t like that at all, and as if he were channeling Babe Ruth went 3-3 in that game and 4-4 in the next game each time pointing at me when he got a hit. The guy was one of a kind.

 

See you next week. It looks like it will be great weather!